ANOTHER CHRISTMAS COMMENT

      At least one of the comments on one of my Christmas posts made me start to think about horses. The post isn't going out of my mind even if it's past Christmas. 

     The person said they would like to have a Christmas sleigh ride. I imagine people who want a sleigh ride at Christmas are thinking about lively horses and fancy sleighs. 

    However my sleigh rides were not of the fancy kind.

    The Canadian prairies suffered more than most areas during the 30's. The depression was bad enough but then there was a drought that went along with the depression. 

   So we were still using horses until after the second world war. We didn't have enough money to buy tractors in the 30's. We couldn't buy tractors during the war and couldn't buy gas so the horse was important and used until after the war. . 

    The horses used were not the huge draft horses. They were known as the prairie horse. They weighed about 1000lbs and were willing workers. They were easy to keep. When the harvest was over most of these horses were turned out and let loose for the winter. These horses were able to find food and were able to get enough water from the snow. About 50% of the area was not developed so they could paw the snow back and get at the native grass. There were also straw stacks from the harvest that they could use but the straw was not that nutritious. Horses know what's good for them. 

    Roads were not kept open in the winters. There wasn't antifreeze at that time for cars. We didn't have snow removal equipment so we used horses to get us to town in the winter. 

   These were the same tough little horses we used to get to our cousins for Christmas. We didn't have fancy sleds. We used a heavy farm sleigh with a grain box on the sleigh. We used them to get from one place to another. It wasn't fancy. It was tough as it was cold. 

     I can't find my photo of Queenie and Daisy who were the last horses we had on the farm. 

    For some of you this will make no sense at all. This was agriculture on the Canadian prairie. It was tough but, the people who survived were proud.

READY FOR THE NEW YEAR

      I'm ready to start the new year. I'm so ready I decided to look back to the solstice and see how much more daylight we are getting. Not much more.

     sunrise today 8:44 AM       sunset today 4:33 PM

     Total daylight 7 hours and 48 minutes. 

     To compare what it was at the winter solstice:

     Sunrise  8:43 AM    Sunset 4:24 PM

     Total daylight 7 hours and 42 minutes. 

    So it's not much change but enough to see where we are going and that it will continue to change for the better. 

HAVE A GREAT '23

 

         There are many people who I wish a great and wonderful 2023.  So followers and readers I wish you all the best. I have many wonderful blogs that I follow.  So successful blogging in 2023.

Most New Year's Eves I remind you that New Year's Eve 1964 was the first date I had with the Micro Manager. Of course we went to a New Year's party at the Legion in Inuvik , NWT. That was 58 years ago. It's okay if you say it fast. 

                                                                                  

REFLECTIONS ON CHRISTMAS

       One hears much at Christmas about "a good old fashioned Christmas" "Traditional Christmas" "family Christmas" . It feels like people are searching for something . It's easy to look back and see something that was pleasant. They don't get the same buzz from Christmas these days.

       I started to think about my past and Christmas celebrations. I was born in 1939 on the Saskatchewan prairie. Times were tough, very tough. In this area they hadn't really pulled out of the depression and then WW II started and there were more hard times. 

     So, of course, I don't remember much about my first four or five Christmases. We were still hard up in the late forties but I remember Christmases. Schools and churches had concerts which were exciting. For these we received a bag of candy and nuts and best of all a Japanese orange. 

     Our Christmas presents were meager but we didn't know that. 

     We went to our cousins for Christmas  and New Years . We harnessed the team and headed a mile across the fields to our cousins. The next year they came to our house. 

     Economic conditions were better in the fifties and we were older. We received more as it could be afforded. We played games all day with the cousins. This time flew by quickly and we spent more time with our friends at Christmas rather than our families. We still attended the dinner and gift giving.

    Then suddenly I was not able to be home for Christmas and that was another way to spend Christmas. 

    Marriage and we went back to family celebrations.

   My children came and we had a family Christmas with the gifts and big dinner but we were away from family so just the nuclear family participated.

   When my children left they went other ways and did not come home for Christmas.

    As a couple without family we kept up traditions with the big meal and gifts. We attended the Christmas eve church service. 

    Gradually we did less and less. Gifts were omitted. We had too much already. Decorations became less until this year it's only lights outside. Less baking was done until this year there was none which is good because it's too physically challenging for the micro manager. The Christmas dinner was missing some of the trimmings.

     Next year we will eat our Christmas dinner out at a restaurant.

    So, this gets me back to the traditional Christmas. Would it be possible to go back. Never. Would we like the traditional Christmas celebration? Probably not. I don't think I'd like to be riding in an open  sleigh box behind two old farm horses. 

    So the traditional Christmas is the one we celebrate right now. This year , I enjoyed my Christmas as much as ever but there wasn't any razzle dazzle. 

SOMEBODY STOLE MY CHRISTMAS PRESENT!

       We have always exchanged some small items at Christmas time with some of the neighbors. Usually it's some baking or at least that's what we did. This year, I finally persuaded the Micro Manager to quit baking. However, we did find something for the neighbors beside us.

     I took it to them this morning. During the chit chat at the door , Darcie asked me if I got her bag of goodies. A question like that made me nervous. Whoa! Did she give me something and I forgot about it . However , my answer to her was no. Darcie knew that something was wrong as I hadn't thanked her.

    So, what happened?

     Darcie had hung the bag on the mail box. So we think the mailman took it. So the mail man must think I'm a good guy and it didn't cost me a dime . Or we have an elderly slightly handicapped paper boy. Ron may have taken it. In this case Ron would think I'm a good guy. 

     Now there are very few kids or homeless in the neighborhood so we scratched that off as a culprit. 

    I suspicion that Darcie didn't have a tag on this bag as to who it was for.

    It was funny when we thought that the wrong person had taken the little gift. 

WINTER SOLSTICE

       Today is that magic day of the longest night of the year. 

        Here the sun rose at 8:42 AM and set at 4:24 PM so we had 7 hours and 42 minutes of daylight. So today is the day when days are to get longer. Yesterday the sun set at 4:23 PM  Yesterday the sun rose a 8:41 AM so things have an adjustment to make before we start gaining back time for a longer day.

       Since it's winter in the northern hemisphere I am experiencing winter. Today our high was minus 28 C. Tonight our low will be minus 38. So yes,we are experiencing winter as it normally occurs here. 

       This is what it looked like at approximately 4:05 Pm this afternoon. The sun would officially set about 15 minutes later. 

THE WEATHER IS STILL INTERESTING.

       Today we had another typical winter day. The high was minus 22 C. When I woke up this morning it was minus 24. There was a light wind but when it's minus 22 it will feel cold. There was a few centimeters of snow so guess what. I had to shovel.

      So in the morning I did my driveway and front side walk as well as my neighbors sidewalk. After lunch I did my west side walk. 

      So now  at 8:05 PM it's snowing again. I'll be ready again to shovel.

      Today I did get some photos through the window. It shows how dull it is at this time of year as the sun is low down in the sky. 

                               Before shoveling

                                 After shoveling    

       This shows a snow cornice off the roof of my house. The wind blows and the snow drifts over the edge and gradually the snow sticks out over the edge of the roof. You are looking up in this photo.